Although an increasing number of people are becoming aware of the threats to women , children and the gay community, I’m really beginning to wonder if we are getting anywhere in this fight. Gender ideology is so deeply entrenched in virtually every institution and there are so many supposedly intelligent people who cannot see or who refuse to see the threats. People like Billy Bragg have watched women and gay people fighting for their rights for decades. He apparently stood beside us in the struggles, yet he now spouts he most offensive and vile abuse. How can these people not see that that they are now standing alongside the most misogynistic and homophobic people in decades , who are putting children in such danger. A cursory look at John Money and Queer Theory should alert people to what’s going on… shouldn’t it?
I think Nichola Sturgeon, Yousef Hamza and Isla Bryson have done our movement a BIG favour by bringing it to the attention of the wider public. I am sure many of the public previously thought in terms of April Ashley and Jan Morris as 'transwomen'. Sweet natured, unthreatening, no male genitalia. Glamorous model, fluffy haired old lady, both of whom went the whole hog. Now they realise that these days most of these 'women' are actually fully intact, sexually predatory, fetishist and aggressive men. Looking forward to developments in Scotland in the next week! Just contributed to the fund Graham.
No, they don't, not usually, they demand compliance and cooperation and they fucking get it. They got it as men and they expect to get it doubly so as men who insist they're women. It is male privilege personified, and there can be nothing more fucking bewildering, angering or distressing than the well organised defence they've been able to marshall from people who gave every impression of knowing better. I'm done with bollocking around and trying to keep my psychotherapist hat on. Anyone advancing an ideology, or enabling the advancement of an ideology that is harmful, not potentially harmful, to women, children, LGB people and everyone else, has to be relentlessly challenged, and no one should give a fuck about how that makes them feel. Fuck them.
Agree. 'Her' daughter is being somewhat circumspect about her childhood and upbringing. Having said that Jan/James Morris never demanded Terfs be hanged.
Thank you for your kind words, TT. It's been a depressing week, I know. But I honestly feel the pendulum is swinging back. We may not win every battle but I do believe we'll win the war. Keep fighting & keep your spirits up!
Thank you for your positivity JL. I too have felt the exasperation of these last few weeks. Like it's never going to end. Of course, it will -- but the longer it lasts, the greater the toll. Especially on the kids. This is a battle for the children and there's no greater motivation than that. KBO as Churchill used to sign off. KBO.
Re. Oxfam. I don't think a poor Somali woman, with undernourished child has the luxury of worrying about pronouns. All this stuff is indulgent, narcissistic, degenerate white middle class nonsense. It is like Rome in it's final orgiastic days.
And frankly it is racist. Most cultures that Oxfam works with are religious with traditional views on sex, family etc. They will find this stuff offensive. And in strict Muslim countries, heretical with all that entails. Surely Oxfam for the efficacy of it's operations and safety of it's field workers should be sensitive to local cultures and not force their weird philosophy on them.
My father worked with the Colonial Education Service in Kenya 1958 - 1963. He was required to (1) learn Swahili and (2) learn about local religions and sensibilities (He was examined - his only on-line presence is in the Kenyan Gazette from 1959 stating he had passed his intermediate Swahili exam). So teaching at an Islamic School he had to work with traditional parents with regard to the girl pupils. For for example he took 30 students on a 6 week 'safari' around East Africa. The parents of the 3 girls who wanted to come were worried about their 'honour' and would not give permission for these girls to go on the trip. My father suggested that each girl be chaperoned by a 'respectable, married woman' which they agreed to. One these was my mum, and I aged 3 and sister 6 weeks came along for the ride. If he had been a woke warrior (ooh just realised this word is probably banned in the guide) in tune with Oxfam's guide, no doubt he would have been happy to let a 'transwomen' be a chaperone. Or perhaps a 'transgirl' sleep in the girls quarters. It would have caused a riot, he would have been sacked and sent back to the UK! And the 3 girls and many others would have been withdrawn from education.
Oxfam asked for feedback on their Inclusive Language Guide. This was my feedback:
Dear Sir/Madam
You ask in the preamble to your new 'Inclusive language guide' whether anyone has feedback.
I have feedback.
No-one in the history of Oxfam, as far as we know, has been offended or affronted by the language that those volunteering, working and/or writing for Oxfam has used. Ever. I've never read anything in the newspapers about people taking umbrage with the language Oxfam's writers and volunteers have used; I've never come across any reports of 'hate speech' being processed by the authorities; I've never seen on television any features on litigation that has been initiated because of some terrible linguistic faux pas by one of Oxfam's many sincere volunteers and supporters.
In short, well done, Oxfam. Up until now, you have upset no apple-carts, you have outraged no maiden aunties, you have terrified no horses in the street, and you have conducted yourself linguistically with aplomb at all times.
So why this? Why now? To what purpose this 'Inclusive Language Guide'? Why this craven attempt to police language, after all this time? Why this monumentally sanctimonious attempt to foster ideas, beliefs and sentiments which, frankly, the vast majority of sane people in the UK really don't wish to engage with? Why this desperate, polymorphously 'woke' display of virtue-signalling?
I almost put the Guide down before I'd finished the preamble, because the thinly-veiled apology for printing the thing in English really was a breathtakingly audacious way of setting your stall out. Do you not realise that most of us who speak English as a mother tongue - oops, sorry, as a 'birthing person' tongue - actually adore the English language, and believe that it is a God-given bounty that has enriched a whole civilisation for over a thousand years? Or do we native English speakers not count for anything in your estimation? Do you not realise that most of us who speak English as our first language were not even alive when Britain was engaged in its colonising endeavours? Do you not realise that your jeremiads on linguistic colonialism are offensive to those of us who pride ourselves on speaking the language of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wilde, Tennyson and Dickens? Shame on you for shaming us by association.
As for the rest of the Guide, I really don't know where to start, because the depth and extent of your cavalier attitude towards those of us who have not drunk the Kool-Aid of wokeism is absolutely staggering. Your misogyny and homophobia apparently know no bounds; I'm sorry, examples are so profuse - and so egregious - that I barely have the mental energy to count them, let alone address them. For example, where do you get off on asserting that 'homophobia' is hatred of people who are "attracted to people of the same gender"? Homosexuality, may I remind you, is an attracted that people have for the same sex, not the same gender. Another example: do you really believe that 'asexual' is a thing? And that 'asexuality' is an orientation that is deserving of a place in the rainbow alphabet of made-up orientations? Pansexual? What on earth was Helen Wishart on when she coordinated this monstrous piece of vanity publishing? Because I see from her own CV that she is not exactly an adherent herself of the language she would advocate to the rest of us.
And God only knows which groups and organisations were roped in to give you advice on the writing of this magnum opus. (If the infamous Mermaids charity was among them, I'd have a word with your legal folk, if I were you, because Mermaids is shot through with controversy, not least the fact that it has had self-avowed pedophiles among its own advisors). Why on earth you didn't leave things as they were, with the language that you've always used, heaven only knows.
Do you really believe that it's wrong to say that only women menstruate? Because, biologically, ONLY women menstruate. If a 'transman' menstruates, that's because that 'transman' is biologically a woman. You are Oxfam, for God's sake. I grew up wanting to espouse your ideals. I grew up donating my pocket money to Oxfam, and as I became a young adult, I spent countless hundreds, nay, thousands of pounds on books from your second hand book departments. Oxfam was a beacon of sanity, social conscience and civic correctitude in a world full of cant, hypocrisy, violence and oppression.
Has it come to this? Really? Have you really descended to such a nadir that you feel the need to sacrifice your reputation on the altar of bargain-basement cultural Marxism from the brains and pens of a generation of entitled pseudo-liberals? I could weep for you, Oxfam, really I could.
Colin...when I have a moment I shall feedback to Oxfam along the lines of my comment above and yours.
And what is English - a language which has organically grown over 2,000 years and which these people are trying to artificially change? The original Anglo Saxon language of 1500 years ago has absorbed Celtic, Norse , Norman French, Latin, modern French, Italian, Spanish & German, Scottish Gaelic and Old Scots. Then Hindu, Cantonese, Swahili, Mandarin, Japanese, Afrikaans etc. It is the first or second language of much of the world. Indeed it is an inclusive and welcoming language, unlike French which has been policed by the Academie Francaise for 400 years - banning foreign imported words like "weekend". And many non white people of the world appreciate Shakespeare and Milton etc. Perhaps I lack empathy, but I have never noticed English speaking African and Asian friends being upset about speaking English! I now know thanks to this guide that I should apologise for speaking English to them.
And when dealing with illiterate and uneducated people you have to have simple messages. Woman & mother whether in English or the local language (local is a banned word in the guide) are understood. "People with cervixes" or "birthing parents" are hardly understood in the UK, let alone overseas. So if you want to give medical aid or teach skills (contraception, obstetric, paediatric) to women, pregnant women, children you need to use these words which are understood everywhere, not invented words and concepts. Mother is universal. There is a word in every language for mother, who is understood to have have given birth and has a woman's body. And mother is more than a biological descriptor. It is about 250,0000 years of universal human history and culture.. Mother is about love, caring, emotion and status. "Birthing parent" is a biological term, ironically not based on biology.
Cont/d from above. In Testament of Youth, the injured and dying British, French and German soldiers that Vera Brittain cared for called out for their mother, maman and mutter. When my "birthing parent" died I held her hand and called her mum and told her I loved her. No one calls their dying mother "birthing parent". This stuff is so insulting and upsetting. Why diss your history, language and culture for imagined grievances?
And there are legal implications of changing the language like this. For example a Council Social Services report may refer to the mother, foster mother and adoptive mother of a child. We know what these terms mean legally. But replace mother with 'birthing parent' how do describe the other mothers? "Birthing parent, who has not actually given birth to this child but is temporarily/permanently' taking care of the child on behalf of the Council". It is ludicrous.
Brilliant Jane, thank you. There is a lot of all this or all that is wrong and must be banned at the moment. It is almost a new Colonialism on speed and in reverse. I found some of my old briefing notes about Darfur. I have worked with and alongside Oxfam (a long time ago) and they have utterly trashed their brand and reputation since and over many grievous cases, usually of men abusing women and girls and on a mass scale and over many years. And in many, many countries. Same old. They seem to live in their heads looking down on us little people. Who are they helping? Who are they claiming to help? The very comfortable in their senior ranks seem endlessly clueless, distanced, paternalistic, patronising and ready to insult anyone English or who speaks English at the drop of a hat. Or who are white. It's foolish, racist and all totally back to front.
I speak a little of a few languages, my family are from all over, and it is still English that people throughout the world tend to know a bit or a lot of, which helps us talk, listen to and understand each other. I don't insist on it but in England and the UK we are allowed to speak and write it without feeling shame and having our vocabulary endlessly corrected. So many seem to resent that, it's hugely adversarial but without suggesting any alternative for how we can foster understanding and vitally, shared understanding.
You make a great point re: English. If the wokerati want 'diversity and inclusion', the English languages has those in spades. Colonial language my arse.
Well that's the Bowdlerized version. The original had a fair amount of expletives - all beautifully expressed, I hasten to add hehehe - but on the second edit I realised that I'm no longer a fifteen year-old gobshite, and that swearing doesn't become one. God knows they deserve it, but let's not stoop so low. Just yet, anyway ;-)
I do occasionally, and from now on I shall take your advice. And if people upbraid me on account of my disgusting mouth, I shall reference the person who told me to 'swear away' hehehehehe
I like to think how they are scratching their heads as to how to reply as what they are up to, not for the first time, is utterly indefensible. It really is odd how this very corrupted way of thinking has spread through all our institutions with few able to counter it until a few things are pointed out and then the inevitable crafted apologies, with regret, blah blah.
Have you seen the Chief Exec's response in today's Gruan?
"Our guide tries to encourage a considered and nuanced approach to how we refer to people, yet it sparked a reductive, divisive response. Clearly, there is still much to be done to win hearts and minds, to allay fears and to show the centrality of our work with women and girls around the world."
Righty ho, thanks mate. I read it. I'm still not convinced and this feels like him doubling down. And no, I don't feel that 'centrality' of their work at all. A senior man from another organisation involved in similar told me he's studied how to imagine how a woman from X would think and we need to have empathy and understanding for them. Oh do we? Them? Them? He happened to be speaking to one of us wimmins and had inadvertantly picked somewhere I know to pontificate about where I have some family left and some sought safety elsewhere. It stung a bit. He appeared totally unaware of others, or me, my own background, my family or life experiences, generationally, or what I might possibly think. He wasn't interested at all, assumed a lot and I wasn't going to correct him. He was weirdly actually talking to a real life woman who can think, feel and talk for herself. Who has family in and from the warzone he was informing us all about. I kept my powder dry, remained silent as I was so angry and at how enlightened he thought he was being as he lectured us. I am happy to speak with others who actually listen.
It's so farcical that Oxfam claims to be fighting colonial language whilst they are actively imposing language on former colonies and pretending that non-white racial groups are too stupid to understand how biological sex works.
Absolutely. What is more 'colonialist' then imposing a philosophy drummed up by 18th, 19th, 20th century German, French and white American philosophers on poor African and Asian countries. Queer Theory and Critical Race Theory are the children of post Marxist/Structuralist white intellectuals - many of them paedophiles (Derrida, Foucault etc). Fine when confined to Left Bank cafes, or some some University Social Service Departments, but it has spilled out into government, education and the private and charitable sector all over the 1st World and is now being imposed on the 3rd World. It is a decadent Western tyranny. I wonder how many senior people in say Somalia, Uganda or Pakistan have read and approved this guide. None I guess.
Imagine if each classroom had 30 different sets of pronouns. In fact, if I was still at school or uni I’d get everyone to do that just to illustrate how insane it all is…. especially if the teacher was an ideologue 😜
And you must of course be able to choose your own and not have anyone else ever possibly 'dictate' what you are, or how you will be referred to, to you. Oh no. This is really some wacky academicish ramblings and navel-gazing bilge that bubbled away then broke out of the Queer Theory labs and is roaming around twisting everything. It's got very little to do with homosexuality which also seems a red herring set to confuse those at face value.
It still deeply surprises me that a few who claim, then bang on about being 'Queer' have not much of a clue about 'Queer Theory'. I think some genuinely think Queer is just bit like Queen so is a nice thing to call yourself and everyone wants to be the Queen of their own lives. A bit interesting, a bit spicy, with power and in control. It's almost indefinable, so can mean what anyone wants. Perfectly suits the thinking of a bullying five year old to be in charge of everything and demand according to their whims.
If I put on a poncho and sombrero I’d be accused of cultural appropriation, if I black my face and sing “Mammy” I’d probably be arrested for racism, but why is it ok for a man to dress up as a sexualised parody of a woman? I find the whole idea of drag queens insulting and offensive.
So true. There's no inner logic to the woke worldview -- because it's inconsistent and wrong from top to bottom and back up to the top again. God forbid you should 'appropriate' anything at all, no matter how infinitesimal that 'appropriation' is. Imagination and human empathy are being stifled, if not completely shut down by 'woke culture'. Yet a man's REAL appropriation of women's very existential being, and spaces, and awards, and sports etc. is not only NOT offensive -- it's f***ing CELEBRATED. Ggaahh!!!!!!
I know how you feel but I feel the more frequently it happens, the more people are becoming aware and the more female athletes are speaking out. Honestly, I do believe the tide is turning. Keep fighting and keep your spirits up!
I could only comment on the sport thing because the child abuse content is beyond terrible and the other things just leave me so angry and all the rest. Sharron Davies was on radio 4 woman’s hour talking today and just brilliant as always.
She was great wasn't she? I avoid Men's Hour now and so caught it by accident. The BBC presenter came across waffly, whiny and very poorly - she kept interrupting or piping up claiming this bothisidesy stuff and reopening closed debates, then adding doubt where there is no doubt. She kept reintroducing doubt over settled matters which is scandalous. In a 'but, how do we really know the earth isn't flat?' type of way. I am seriously unimpressed at her dragging in but but supposed 'science' and 'it's not settled' versus much actual research - the scientific method - and the growing evidence base of the retained power and strength men have in sports having gone through puberty. But but it's not settled. Oh yes that bloody well is. One bit of weak quasi 'research' gets waved about in the face of properly conducted research over and over again. Sharron was remarkably calm and got her points across. The silly fake outrage of the presenter at the suggestion testosterone could be claimed as doping, said to a woman who lost out on medals because of the Soviet doping for decades. The presenter is clueless about that and the anger of those who competed and when we all knew something fishy was happening. It still casts a shadow today. It was not and is not fair. And everyone knew. Fairness and competition is at the heart of all sports. Sportsmanlike is a description to describe someone for a reason.
And this 'meaningful' thing they are now claiming sport should be? Meaningful for men they mean. Still. Again. All over again. It loses all meaning for us as we lose our chance to compete fairly. When will people realise 'balance' is not possible in some contexts - only the binary is possible. Yes or No. Is that a fire burning that house? Maybe. Is that person drowning? Maybe. Allow people to have their voice, but it is actually drowning out women's voices to promote the 'fairness' for men to be included in our female categories.
i’m sick of men pretending to be women, or thinking they are. I have loads of friends who talk openly about their experiences as women with their female bodies, and the profound influence it has on their lives. Team tosspot thinking the voice dribbling around in their brain is an expression of a female brain or something. Fuck off and grow up.
Yes, it’s incredible that in the face of all the evidence for male advantage, there are still so many trying to justify male cheats. The BBC has been appalling on the issue of gender ideology in general and is only now being forced to allow a tiny bit of discussion through gritted teeth.
Will donate again, Graham has done so much, he does not deserve this ****. Really enjoyed recent interview with fellow cancelled, Laurence Fox. The best. Warm, relaxed and honest with humour
Yes we have donated twice and i’d like to point out what a bloody miserable thing to spend money on when it could be given to help other people in need or used to pay the electricity bill. I hope whats his faces loses quickly and in a way that makes the world point and shout what a wanker. Wanker.
I don’t know where Graham gets his tenacity, he’s a hero. I hope he can start to enjoy life more when this is over. I’m looking forward to laughing at his jokes if he’s doing stand up
In regards to men that take stuff to reduce their testosterone so they can compete with women……
what a load of absolute bullshit.
An elite athlete is so committed to their sport, its not a ‘hobby’ or an ‘interest’. Its their life and they sacrifice many things to be the best they can be.
A trans identifying man is willing to take stuff to reduce his performance so he qualifies to compete against women.
What a load of disingenuous wankers. I do loads of long distance running and do the best i can within the parameters of the sacrifices i am willing to make (not many).
I am not elite, i am good, thats ok. Good is fine. Trans identifying men are not elite, female athletes and amateur female athletes deserve the right to compete on an equal playing field with other women.
If world athletics fuck this up, another series needs to be formed.
I couldn't read it all. It's too depressing. What the fvck is wrong with people? With society? How can violent men (or any man) be houses in the female estate? Why are girls' teams who object to playing against men being denied a chance to play at all? How the fvck can a school allow boys to behave violently and abusively toward the girls? How can women and girls feel safe today? Why the fvck is it being allowed? I feel intense rage. Nobody should be surprised if a type of citizens' militia forms in various places to start taking matters into their own hands. What is going on in the psyche of societies across the globe today? As far as I know it's only Africa that is resisting this Borg cult.
Hello. Yes, I know it's been a depressing week. But please don't get despondent. Plenty of good news around, too! I do believe we are winning the war, even if we do not win every battle. Keep your spirits up! x
Thank you. It is a slog, though, and it shouldn't even be happening. I'm most frustrated at my inability to fathom WHY so many people go along with this ideology. They are not all bad people per se, so what is it? Maybe some day psychiatry will be able to explain it.
I am 69 years old and ever since I read a number of social psychology texts when I was 17 I've been observing people and thinking a lot about how they function.
It makes total sense to me why people go along with this grotesque ideology. First, they've been trained for decades to believe nonsense. To quote William Casey, once head of the CIA, he said, "When everything Americans believe is a lie, we'll know we've been successful." And, sorry, people in other countries, your countries have been peddling the same lies and most of you have probably believed them. Which is why I lose respect for those who are gender-critical who then repeat other lies they've been told by such filth as the BBC, PBS, the NYT, the Guardian, etc.
Second, people do not like to have to think, It requires a lot of work and energy which is often sapped by having to negotiate everyday life. Working, paying bills, taking care of children, domestic responsibilities, on and on. People's brains just shut down and then they repeat whatever they have heard second- or eightieth-hand. One good example is people who say "God should be permitted in the schools!" because they heard a coworker say this. They don't ask whose God, they don't think perhaps God is in the schools and doesn't need to be talked about, they don't consider that some children consider themselves atheists, they just blindly repeat what some other repeater said. The human condition is both pathetic and monstrous.
"Glinner of Hope". Has been for me, that's for sure. Such a warrior. And along the way, he's still manages to make us laugh -- doesn't get any braver than that. Thank you again and again Graham.
Thanks as ever, JL . What a list of horror stories! Re the Italian MALE athlete 'Valentina' Petrillo, and his reference to his detractors being Nazis and like Hitler, apart from that being baseless, ridiculous and nonsense, it always really annoys me because it seems to me to amount to an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust!
Some of this week's events are very hard to bear. Who the hell placed Kardashian in a women's prison? It's an obscenity. I've donated again to Graham's fundraiser - it's so close to the target now.
Thanks for putting these stories together. If this whole post was included in a main stream newspaper it would be so powerful in peaking ordinary people. Your work needs a bigger audience, JL.
This is a universally gloomy set of reports, our Graham. Thank God that you followed it up with a more propitious bunch of news! Thank you for all you do for us. And the Times article on you was pretty fair-handed, I think. What do you think?
Thanks you JL and Glinner for publishing the 4W story on Swiss girls below 14 undergoing double mastectomies. Our country's press barely picked up the story. Transactivists still pretend kids are not being operated on (I went to an event last night, targetting autistic youth and they repeated that no one is getting surgery before 18, that everything is reversible, including blockers).
Although an increasing number of people are becoming aware of the threats to women , children and the gay community, I’m really beginning to wonder if we are getting anywhere in this fight. Gender ideology is so deeply entrenched in virtually every institution and there are so many supposedly intelligent people who cannot see or who refuse to see the threats. People like Billy Bragg have watched women and gay people fighting for their rights for decades. He apparently stood beside us in the struggles, yet he now spouts he most offensive and vile abuse. How can these people not see that that they are now standing alongside the most misogynistic and homophobic people in decades , who are putting children in such danger. A cursory look at John Money and Queer Theory should alert people to what’s going on… shouldn’t it?
I think Nichola Sturgeon, Yousef Hamza and Isla Bryson have done our movement a BIG favour by bringing it to the attention of the wider public. I am sure many of the public previously thought in terms of April Ashley and Jan Morris as 'transwomen'. Sweet natured, unthreatening, no male genitalia. Glamorous model, fluffy haired old lady, both of whom went the whole hog. Now they realise that these days most of these 'women' are actually fully intact, sexually predatory, fetishist and aggressive men. Looking forward to developments in Scotland in the next week! Just contributed to the fund Graham.
Unfortunately Jan Morris seems to have treated her family with the selfishness typical of middle-aged male transitioners:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11527279/Celebrated-writer-Jan-Morris-bully-hug-children-daughter-claims.html
Well, he was a dude after all and they don't change their stripes.
No, they don't, not usually, they demand compliance and cooperation and they fucking get it. They got it as men and they expect to get it doubly so as men who insist they're women. It is male privilege personified, and there can be nothing more fucking bewildering, angering or distressing than the well organised defence they've been able to marshall from people who gave every impression of knowing better. I'm done with bollocking around and trying to keep my psychotherapist hat on. Anyone advancing an ideology, or enabling the advancement of an ideology that is harmful, not potentially harmful, to women, children, LGB people and everyone else, has to be relentlessly challenged, and no one should give a fuck about how that makes them feel. Fuck them.
Right on, sister!!!!!
Agree. 'Her' daughter is being somewhat circumspect about her childhood and upbringing. Having said that Jan/James Morris never demanded Terfs be hanged.
I think you’re right but every time I think “this will do it, people will really fight back now” it all goes a bit quiet again.
I know, I was thinking this. The last two weeks have been very depressing.
Depressing is right. It’s unbelievable that women wanting male free spaces and sports should be regarded as Nazis. Can they not hear themselves?
Thanks again to JL for doing this dismal work for our information.
Thank you for your kind words, TT. It's been a depressing week, I know. But I honestly feel the pendulum is swinging back. We may not win every battle but I do believe we'll win the war. Keep fighting & keep your spirits up!
Thank you for your positivity JL. I too have felt the exasperation of these last few weeks. Like it's never going to end. Of course, it will -- but the longer it lasts, the greater the toll. Especially on the kids. This is a battle for the children and there's no greater motivation than that. KBO as Churchill used to sign off. KBO.
That's a coincidence... I'm starting to look a bit like Churchill! ;-)
haha, too funny!
Oh, please, no! I shall take this as a joke and continue to think of you positively!
Don’t lose hope. More and more people are informed about and are speaking up against these atrocities.
You’re right, thank you.
Re. Oxfam. I don't think a poor Somali woman, with undernourished child has the luxury of worrying about pronouns. All this stuff is indulgent, narcissistic, degenerate white middle class nonsense. It is like Rome in it's final orgiastic days.
And frankly it is racist. Most cultures that Oxfam works with are religious with traditional views on sex, family etc. They will find this stuff offensive. And in strict Muslim countries, heretical with all that entails. Surely Oxfam for the efficacy of it's operations and safety of it's field workers should be sensitive to local cultures and not force their weird philosophy on them.
My father worked with the Colonial Education Service in Kenya 1958 - 1963. He was required to (1) learn Swahili and (2) learn about local religions and sensibilities (He was examined - his only on-line presence is in the Kenyan Gazette from 1959 stating he had passed his intermediate Swahili exam). So teaching at an Islamic School he had to work with traditional parents with regard to the girl pupils. For for example he took 30 students on a 6 week 'safari' around East Africa. The parents of the 3 girls who wanted to come were worried about their 'honour' and would not give permission for these girls to go on the trip. My father suggested that each girl be chaperoned by a 'respectable, married woman' which they agreed to. One these was my mum, and I aged 3 and sister 6 weeks came along for the ride. If he had been a woke warrior (ooh just realised this word is probably banned in the guide) in tune with Oxfam's guide, no doubt he would have been happy to let a 'transwomen' be a chaperone. Or perhaps a 'transgirl' sleep in the girls quarters. It would have caused a riot, he would have been sacked and sent back to the UK! And the 3 girls and many others would have been withdrawn from education.
Oh thank you so much for sharing - how interesting. Your mum & dad sound wonderful!
Oxfam asked for feedback on their Inclusive Language Guide. This was my feedback:
Dear Sir/Madam
You ask in the preamble to your new 'Inclusive language guide' whether anyone has feedback.
I have feedback.
No-one in the history of Oxfam, as far as we know, has been offended or affronted by the language that those volunteering, working and/or writing for Oxfam has used. Ever. I've never read anything in the newspapers about people taking umbrage with the language Oxfam's writers and volunteers have used; I've never come across any reports of 'hate speech' being processed by the authorities; I've never seen on television any features on litigation that has been initiated because of some terrible linguistic faux pas by one of Oxfam's many sincere volunteers and supporters.
In short, well done, Oxfam. Up until now, you have upset no apple-carts, you have outraged no maiden aunties, you have terrified no horses in the street, and you have conducted yourself linguistically with aplomb at all times.
So why this? Why now? To what purpose this 'Inclusive Language Guide'? Why this craven attempt to police language, after all this time? Why this monumentally sanctimonious attempt to foster ideas, beliefs and sentiments which, frankly, the vast majority of sane people in the UK really don't wish to engage with? Why this desperate, polymorphously 'woke' display of virtue-signalling?
I almost put the Guide down before I'd finished the preamble, because the thinly-veiled apology for printing the thing in English really was a breathtakingly audacious way of setting your stall out. Do you not realise that most of us who speak English as a mother tongue - oops, sorry, as a 'birthing person' tongue - actually adore the English language, and believe that it is a God-given bounty that has enriched a whole civilisation for over a thousand years? Or do we native English speakers not count for anything in your estimation? Do you not realise that most of us who speak English as our first language were not even alive when Britain was engaged in its colonising endeavours? Do you not realise that your jeremiads on linguistic colonialism are offensive to those of us who pride ourselves on speaking the language of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wilde, Tennyson and Dickens? Shame on you for shaming us by association.
As for the rest of the Guide, I really don't know where to start, because the depth and extent of your cavalier attitude towards those of us who have not drunk the Kool-Aid of wokeism is absolutely staggering. Your misogyny and homophobia apparently know no bounds; I'm sorry, examples are so profuse - and so egregious - that I barely have the mental energy to count them, let alone address them. For example, where do you get off on asserting that 'homophobia' is hatred of people who are "attracted to people of the same gender"? Homosexuality, may I remind you, is an attracted that people have for the same sex, not the same gender. Another example: do you really believe that 'asexual' is a thing? And that 'asexuality' is an orientation that is deserving of a place in the rainbow alphabet of made-up orientations? Pansexual? What on earth was Helen Wishart on when she coordinated this monstrous piece of vanity publishing? Because I see from her own CV that she is not exactly an adherent herself of the language she would advocate to the rest of us.
And God only knows which groups and organisations were roped in to give you advice on the writing of this magnum opus. (If the infamous Mermaids charity was among them, I'd have a word with your legal folk, if I were you, because Mermaids is shot through with controversy, not least the fact that it has had self-avowed pedophiles among its own advisors). Why on earth you didn't leave things as they were, with the language that you've always used, heaven only knows.
Do you really believe that it's wrong to say that only women menstruate? Because, biologically, ONLY women menstruate. If a 'transman' menstruates, that's because that 'transman' is biologically a woman. You are Oxfam, for God's sake. I grew up wanting to espouse your ideals. I grew up donating my pocket money to Oxfam, and as I became a young adult, I spent countless hundreds, nay, thousands of pounds on books from your second hand book departments. Oxfam was a beacon of sanity, social conscience and civic correctitude in a world full of cant, hypocrisy, violence and oppression.
Has it come to this? Really? Have you really descended to such a nadir that you feel the need to sacrifice your reputation on the altar of bargain-basement cultural Marxism from the brains and pens of a generation of entitled pseudo-liberals? I could weep for you, Oxfam, really I could.
yours, etc.
Excellent work, Colin! Bravo!
Colin...when I have a moment I shall feedback to Oxfam along the lines of my comment above and yours.
And what is English - a language which has organically grown over 2,000 years and which these people are trying to artificially change? The original Anglo Saxon language of 1500 years ago has absorbed Celtic, Norse , Norman French, Latin, modern French, Italian, Spanish & German, Scottish Gaelic and Old Scots. Then Hindu, Cantonese, Swahili, Mandarin, Japanese, Afrikaans etc. It is the first or second language of much of the world. Indeed it is an inclusive and welcoming language, unlike French which has been policed by the Academie Francaise for 400 years - banning foreign imported words like "weekend". And many non white people of the world appreciate Shakespeare and Milton etc. Perhaps I lack empathy, but I have never noticed English speaking African and Asian friends being upset about speaking English! I now know thanks to this guide that I should apologise for speaking English to them.
And when dealing with illiterate and uneducated people you have to have simple messages. Woman & mother whether in English or the local language (local is a banned word in the guide) are understood. "People with cervixes" or "birthing parents" are hardly understood in the UK, let alone overseas. So if you want to give medical aid or teach skills (contraception, obstetric, paediatric) to women, pregnant women, children you need to use these words which are understood everywhere, not invented words and concepts. Mother is universal. There is a word in every language for mother, who is understood to have have given birth and has a woman's body. And mother is more than a biological descriptor. It is about 250,0000 years of universal human history and culture.. Mother is about love, caring, emotion and status. "Birthing parent" is a biological term, ironically not based on biology.
Cont/d from above. In Testament of Youth, the injured and dying British, French and German soldiers that Vera Brittain cared for called out for their mother, maman and mutter. When my "birthing parent" died I held her hand and called her mum and told her I loved her. No one calls their dying mother "birthing parent". This stuff is so insulting and upsetting. Why diss your history, language and culture for imagined grievances?
And there are legal implications of changing the language like this. For example a Council Social Services report may refer to the mother, foster mother and adoptive mother of a child. We know what these terms mean legally. But replace mother with 'birthing parent' how do describe the other mothers? "Birthing parent, who has not actually given birth to this child but is temporarily/permanently' taking care of the child on behalf of the Council". It is ludicrous.
Brilliant Jane, thank you. There is a lot of all this or all that is wrong and must be banned at the moment. It is almost a new Colonialism on speed and in reverse. I found some of my old briefing notes about Darfur. I have worked with and alongside Oxfam (a long time ago) and they have utterly trashed their brand and reputation since and over many grievous cases, usually of men abusing women and girls and on a mass scale and over many years. And in many, many countries. Same old. They seem to live in their heads looking down on us little people. Who are they helping? Who are they claiming to help? The very comfortable in their senior ranks seem endlessly clueless, distanced, paternalistic, patronising and ready to insult anyone English or who speaks English at the drop of a hat. Or who are white. It's foolish, racist and all totally back to front.
I speak a little of a few languages, my family are from all over, and it is still English that people throughout the world tend to know a bit or a lot of, which helps us talk, listen to and understand each other. I don't insist on it but in England and the UK we are allowed to speak and write it without feeling shame and having our vocabulary endlessly corrected. So many seem to resent that, it's hugely adversarial but without suggesting any alternative for how we can foster understanding and vitally, shared understanding.
You make a great point re: English. If the wokerati want 'diversity and inclusion', the English languages has those in spades. Colonial language my arse.
Bravo Colin, excellent reply. 👏👏👏
Well that's the Bowdlerized version. The original had a fair amount of expletives - all beautifully expressed, I hasten to add hehehe - but on the second edit I realised that I'm no longer a fifteen year-old gobshite, and that swearing doesn't become one. God knows they deserve it, but let's not stoop so low. Just yet, anyway ;-)
Ha ha, I’ve never been a swearer….that is until gender ideology arrived and now I swear like a trooper. So swear away, it’s in a good cause.
I do occasionally, and from now on I shall take your advice. And if people upbraid me on account of my disgusting mouth, I shall reference the person who told me to 'swear away' hehehehehe
Glad to have been of use 😄
They emailed back to say that they'd be in touch hehehe
I like to think how they are scratching their heads as to how to reply as what they are up to, not for the first time, is utterly indefensible. It really is odd how this very corrupted way of thinking has spread through all our institutions with few able to counter it until a few things are pointed out and then the inevitable crafted apologies, with regret, blah blah.
Have you seen the Chief Exec's response in today's Gruan?
"Our guide tries to encourage a considered and nuanced approach to how we refer to people, yet it sparked a reductive, divisive response. Clearly, there is still much to be done to win hearts and minds, to allay fears and to show the centrality of our work with women and girls around the world."
Righty ho, thanks mate. I read it. I'm still not convinced and this feels like him doubling down. And no, I don't feel that 'centrality' of their work at all. A senior man from another organisation involved in similar told me he's studied how to imagine how a woman from X would think and we need to have empathy and understanding for them. Oh do we? Them? Them? He happened to be speaking to one of us wimmins and had inadvertantly picked somewhere I know to pontificate about where I have some family left and some sought safety elsewhere. It stung a bit. He appeared totally unaware of others, or me, my own background, my family or life experiences, generationally, or what I might possibly think. He wasn't interested at all, assumed a lot and I wasn't going to correct him. He was weirdly actually talking to a real life woman who can think, feel and talk for herself. Who has family in and from the warzone he was informing us all about. I kept my powder dry, remained silent as I was so angry and at how enlightened he thought he was being as he lectured us. I am happy to speak with others who actually listen.
Great response!! :)
It's so farcical that Oxfam claims to be fighting colonial language whilst they are actively imposing language on former colonies and pretending that non-white racial groups are too stupid to understand how biological sex works.
Absolutely. What is more 'colonialist' then imposing a philosophy drummed up by 18th, 19th, 20th century German, French and white American philosophers on poor African and Asian countries. Queer Theory and Critical Race Theory are the children of post Marxist/Structuralist white intellectuals - many of them paedophiles (Derrida, Foucault etc). Fine when confined to Left Bank cafes, or some some University Social Service Departments, but it has spilled out into government, education and the private and charitable sector all over the 1st World and is now being imposed on the 3rd World. It is a decadent Western tyranny. I wonder how many senior people in say Somalia, Uganda or Pakistan have read and approved this guide. None I guess.
Good point!
Really interesting comment, thank you.
Indeed, while Rome burns, the woke fiddle with 'they, them', zie, zir'.
Imagine if each classroom had 30 different sets of pronouns. In fact, if I was still at school or uni I’d get everyone to do that just to illustrate how insane it all is…. especially if the teacher was an ideologue 😜
And you must of course be able to choose your own and not have anyone else ever possibly 'dictate' what you are, or how you will be referred to, to you. Oh no. This is really some wacky academicish ramblings and navel-gazing bilge that bubbled away then broke out of the Queer Theory labs and is roaming around twisting everything. It's got very little to do with homosexuality which also seems a red herring set to confuse those at face value.
It still deeply surprises me that a few who claim, then bang on about being 'Queer' have not much of a clue about 'Queer Theory'. I think some genuinely think Queer is just bit like Queen so is a nice thing to call yourself and everyone wants to be the Queen of their own lives. A bit interesting, a bit spicy, with power and in control. It's almost indefinable, so can mean what anyone wants. Perfectly suits the thinking of a bullying five year old to be in charge of everything and demand according to their whims.
If I put on a poncho and sombrero I’d be accused of cultural appropriation, if I black my face and sing “Mammy” I’d probably be arrested for racism, but why is it ok for a man to dress up as a sexualised parody of a woman? I find the whole idea of drag queens insulting and offensive.
So true. There's no inner logic to the woke worldview -- because it's inconsistent and wrong from top to bottom and back up to the top again. God forbid you should 'appropriate' anything at all, no matter how infinitesimal that 'appropriation' is. Imagination and human empathy are being stifled, if not completely shut down by 'woke culture'. Yet a man's REAL appropriation of women's very existential being, and spaces, and awards, and sports etc. is not only NOT offensive -- it's f***ing CELEBRATED. Ggaahh!!!!!!
feel sick. Re athletics, make the men’s categories open, it won’t effect men at all.
I know how you feel but I feel the more frequently it happens, the more people are becoming aware and the more female athletes are speaking out. Honestly, I do believe the tide is turning. Keep fighting and keep your spirits up!
I could only comment on the sport thing because the child abuse content is beyond terrible and the other things just leave me so angry and all the rest. Sharron Davies was on radio 4 woman’s hour talking today and just brilliant as always.
She was great wasn't she? I avoid Men's Hour now and so caught it by accident. The BBC presenter came across waffly, whiny and very poorly - she kept interrupting or piping up claiming this bothisidesy stuff and reopening closed debates, then adding doubt where there is no doubt. She kept reintroducing doubt over settled matters which is scandalous. In a 'but, how do we really know the earth isn't flat?' type of way. I am seriously unimpressed at her dragging in but but supposed 'science' and 'it's not settled' versus much actual research - the scientific method - and the growing evidence base of the retained power and strength men have in sports having gone through puberty. But but it's not settled. Oh yes that bloody well is. One bit of weak quasi 'research' gets waved about in the face of properly conducted research over and over again. Sharron was remarkably calm and got her points across. The silly fake outrage of the presenter at the suggestion testosterone could be claimed as doping, said to a woman who lost out on medals because of the Soviet doping for decades. The presenter is clueless about that and the anger of those who competed and when we all knew something fishy was happening. It still casts a shadow today. It was not and is not fair. And everyone knew. Fairness and competition is at the heart of all sports. Sportsmanlike is a description to describe someone for a reason.
And this 'meaningful' thing they are now claiming sport should be? Meaningful for men they mean. Still. Again. All over again. It loses all meaning for us as we lose our chance to compete fairly. When will people realise 'balance' is not possible in some contexts - only the binary is possible. Yes or No. Is that a fire burning that house? Maybe. Is that person drowning? Maybe. Allow people to have their voice, but it is actually drowning out women's voices to promote the 'fairness' for men to be included in our female categories.
i’m sick of men pretending to be women, or thinking they are. I have loads of friends who talk openly about their experiences as women with their female bodies, and the profound influence it has on their lives. Team tosspot thinking the voice dribbling around in their brain is an expression of a female brain or something. Fuck off and grow up.
Yes, it’s incredible that in the face of all the evidence for male advantage, there are still so many trying to justify male cheats. The BBC has been appalling on the issue of gender ideology in general and is only now being forced to allow a tiny bit of discussion through gritted teeth.
Will donate again, Graham has done so much, he does not deserve this ****. Really enjoyed recent interview with fellow cancelled, Laurence Fox. The best. Warm, relaxed and honest with humour
Yes we have donated twice and i’d like to point out what a bloody miserable thing to spend money on when it could be given to help other people in need or used to pay the electricity bill. I hope whats his faces loses quickly and in a way that makes the world point and shout what a wanker. Wanker.
obs we have donated because GL is a fucking hero in this. And we want to support him.
Goddess bless you, CB. Thank you!
goodness JL no need to thank us!
I don’t know where Graham gets his tenacity, he’s a hero. I hope he can start to enjoy life more when this is over. I’m looking forward to laughing at his jokes if he’s doing stand up
I missed that, is there anywhere to hear it?
https://rumble.com/v2du3ke-the-transwars-with-laurence-fox-and-graham-linehan.html
Great, thank you.
So much still to be done.
In regards to men that take stuff to reduce their testosterone so they can compete with women……
what a load of absolute bullshit.
An elite athlete is so committed to their sport, its not a ‘hobby’ or an ‘interest’. Its their life and they sacrifice many things to be the best they can be.
A trans identifying man is willing to take stuff to reduce his performance so he qualifies to compete against women.
What a load of disingenuous wankers. I do loads of long distance running and do the best i can within the parameters of the sacrifices i am willing to make (not many).
I am not elite, i am good, thats ok. Good is fine. Trans identifying men are not elite, female athletes and amateur female athletes deserve the right to compete on an equal playing field with other women.
If world athletics fuck this up, another series needs to be formed.
Make the men’s category open.
I couldn't read it all. It's too depressing. What the fvck is wrong with people? With society? How can violent men (or any man) be houses in the female estate? Why are girls' teams who object to playing against men being denied a chance to play at all? How the fvck can a school allow boys to behave violently and abusively toward the girls? How can women and girls feel safe today? Why the fvck is it being allowed? I feel intense rage. Nobody should be surprised if a type of citizens' militia forms in various places to start taking matters into their own hands. What is going on in the psyche of societies across the globe today? As far as I know it's only Africa that is resisting this Borg cult.
Hello. Yes, I know it's been a depressing week. But please don't get despondent. Plenty of good news around, too! I do believe we are winning the war, even if we do not win every battle. Keep your spirits up! x
Thank you. It is a slog, though, and it shouldn't even be happening. I'm most frustrated at my inability to fathom WHY so many people go along with this ideology. They are not all bad people per se, so what is it? Maybe some day psychiatry will be able to explain it.
I am 69 years old and ever since I read a number of social psychology texts when I was 17 I've been observing people and thinking a lot about how they function.
It makes total sense to me why people go along with this grotesque ideology. First, they've been trained for decades to believe nonsense. To quote William Casey, once head of the CIA, he said, "When everything Americans believe is a lie, we'll know we've been successful." And, sorry, people in other countries, your countries have been peddling the same lies and most of you have probably believed them. Which is why I lose respect for those who are gender-critical who then repeat other lies they've been told by such filth as the BBC, PBS, the NYT, the Guardian, etc.
Second, people do not like to have to think, It requires a lot of work and energy which is often sapped by having to negotiate everyday life. Working, paying bills, taking care of children, domestic responsibilities, on and on. People's brains just shut down and then they repeat whatever they have heard second- or eightieth-hand. One good example is people who say "God should be permitted in the schools!" because they heard a coworker say this. They don't ask whose God, they don't think perhaps God is in the schools and doesn't need to be talked about, they don't consider that some children consider themselves atheists, they just blindly repeat what some other repeater said. The human condition is both pathetic and monstrous.
"Glinner of Hope". Has been for me, that's for sure. Such a warrior. And along the way, he's still manages to make us laugh -- doesn't get any braver than that. Thank you again and again Graham.
All of this is so sickeningly awful that many would refuse to believe it.
Thanks as ever, JL . What a list of horror stories! Re the Italian MALE athlete 'Valentina' Petrillo, and his reference to his detractors being Nazis and like Hitler, apart from that being baseless, ridiculous and nonsense, it always really annoys me because it seems to me to amount to an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust!
You're absolutely right, Dusty. It denigrates the suffering Nazi victims that this ludicrous man compares himself to them. He's vile.
At least they kept him out of the womens changing rooms. I expect that was what he was really cross about.
Some of this week's events are very hard to bear. Who the hell placed Kardashian in a women's prison? It's an obscenity. I've donated again to Graham's fundraiser - it's so close to the target now.
Thank you so much, Nick! x
If you follow Oxfam’s logic it should eat itself. An organisation set up and perpetuated by white saviours. It’s so un-PC. It should cancel
Itself.
Thanks for putting these stories together. If this whole post was included in a main stream newspaper it would be so powerful in peaking ordinary people. Your work needs a bigger audience, JL.
Thank you for your kind words, Helen. Much appreciated.
This is a universally gloomy set of reports, our Graham. Thank God that you followed it up with a more propitious bunch of news! Thank you for all you do for us. And the Times article on you was pretty fair-handed, I think. What do you think?
Thanks you JL and Glinner for publishing the 4W story on Swiss girls below 14 undergoing double mastectomies. Our country's press barely picked up the story. Transactivists still pretend kids are not being operated on (I went to an event last night, targetting autistic youth and they repeated that no one is getting surgery before 18, that everything is reversible, including blockers).
Sending you hugs from Queerzerland.
Thank you for your kind words, Stéphane. And hugs back x